Kalayna Price: Once Bitten

Review by Vicky London

Once Bitten by Kalayna Price is an urban fantasy novel with vampires and shapeshifters. Here’s the cover blurb:

“For the past five years, Kita Nekai has faded into the background of the human world, but when a rogue shifter begins littering the city of Haven with bodies, Kita’s illegal status lands her on the suspect list. During a confrontation with hunters that she can’t win, rescue arrives in the form of the mysterious Nathanial Deaton. Kita soon wishes it hadn’t when his method of saving her leaves her undead. With only three nights to prove her innocence and a new liquid diet to worry about, Kita doesn’t want to deal with her infuriating rescuer or the ghost from her past who is determined to drag her back home. But, she needs help if she’s going to stand any chance of survival.”

There were a few stumbling blocks to my enjoyment of this novel. The first is that there was quite a lot of missing information in the story. It wasn’t explained too clearly where Kita was from (apparently some other-world populated with shapeshifters). She can shift into a cat but there are others who can shift into different felines or even wolves. There’s no explanation as to why shifters in the same family can become different animals or even where this the place they come from is. The world-building is incomplete and unclear.

The second big obstacle for me was how unlikeable Kita is. She has all the charm of a cat that’s been forced to take a bath. She fights against help from Nathanial and is unreasonably suspicious and contrary. Kita is essentially a surly teenager with a giant chip on her shoulder and no redeeming qualities. Again, it’s not really clear why that is. I found myself hoping than Nathaniel and Bobby (who seems to be some kind of ex-sweetheart) would leave her to fend for herself because she seemed to care less that they were bending over backwards for her.

One enjoyable part of the book was the vampire council run by an ancient with a baby face, green hair and a punk rock look. I think he could be a really interesting character that I would like to know more about. Since this book is the beginning of a series I hope the author focuses more on the vampire world in future books and less on the shapeshifters. For an excerpt and a video trailer of this book you can go to Bell Bridge Books.

Release Date: January 2009
ISBN: 9780980245394
Bell Bridge Books

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